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ABBA museum. This was a fixed event in the time of this adventure. Going to the ABBA museum. Our first full day together and a bucket list event. Breakfast was your standard hotel continental breakfast but very nice. The coffee was great, hence 3 cups. Muesli, fruit and yoghurt is becoming a bit of a regular brekkie and why not, the Europeans do such a great job of each.
After breakfast we caught the bus and metro into Slussen then a ferry across to Djurgården Island where the ABBA museum is. We had pre booked 10am tickets.
We were getting excited on the ferry and the short walk up the street to the museum was almost done at a sprint. It was our 'Arrival'
Coincidently there was a Eurovision exhibition going on at the same time so we got to see Conchitas's gown from the 2014 win and a few others I did not recognise. But also Måns shirt and leather jeans from last year. The Abba museum is part of the bigger Swedish Music Museum, but calling a spade a spade, Roxette has been the only other band to really come out of Sweden. Abba have taken over the museum.
It was a brilliantly presented interactive museum. Apart from the head sets to follow the story, the museum followed the history of the members of the group and the rise to fame. There were original costumes, albums, music videos and interactive karaoke style recording. Chris and I recorded ourselves singing Mamma Mia and the RoChDa group then recorded Dancing Queen. A bit further through the museum Chris and I made a Mamma Mia video with an original music video with ABBA which can be downloaded on line with your individual ticket number. So we had a look back at the hotel.
The museum was as good as the Bowie Exhibition for detail and even more interactive. At the end was the obligatory souvenir shop to pass through to get to the exit. By this stage the crowd was becoming a bit too much. Like a New Years sale with people grappling for their fridge magnets like somehow they would run out. We were shattered by the end and had only been there for 2 hours. Lunch beckoned and we had a fantastically nice and relaxed lunch in the restaurant at the museum. All in all it was worth every cent. We all came away thoroughly over the moon from the experience and felt down time in Gamla Stan just looking around would be a good idea.
We took the ferry across to Skeppsholmen Island and walked past the YHA we stayed in last time and over the bridge to the centre of Stockholm. A quick pit stop in the Euroclub to show Darryl before it became stupidly crowed in the evening then headed up the hill into the old town centre of Gamla Stan.
Our initial plan was to just walk around and enjoy what the weather report said would be the last sunny day in Stockholm before we leave. We strolled up first in front of the Royal Palace. It was open to the public so we went into the entrance foyer. There was an exhibition of the Crown Jewels in the Treasury so we bought the palace ticket. The Crown Jewels were beautiful ad much less ornate than the British Royal family. There were several crowns and swords and balls and scepters dating back into the 1500s. After the Crown Jewels is was back out into the sunshine and walk around to the entrance to the Royal apartments.
Here we strolled through the clock collections and into some of the meeting rooms and audience chambers. There is a huge tradition behind these palaces and royal families that I quite like. I do appreciate the wealth versus the poverty but these families are tourist attractions. Over 160 million pounds is bought into Britain each year by tourists visiting the Royal sites. Plus I quite like the tradition and would hate to see it lost to the world. Most Royal families have very little if any real political power anymore.
We noted that the traditional furniture, art and decor dates back for centuries. And imagine a child growing up in a place surrounded by nothing modern. Playing his Xbox sitting on a 400 year old French baroque chair. It is no wonder these families are so out of touch with reality. But the rooms were lovely and photography without flash was allowed. Another joy of a good digital camera, it self adjusts for dark rooms that phone cameras can not do.
After the apartments we strolled around Gamla Stan for a few hours further enjoying the old town buildings, cobbled streets and the occasional look into a souvenir shop. A couple of trinkets later and we were back down on the river looking for a bar to have a drink in the city before heading home to cook dinner.
We made our way into the Central Park where the Eurovision Village was. It's really a lot of bars and people just relaxing in the sun with a stage running smaller concerts related to the Eurovision countries and acts. A bit of a struggle to find a sunny seat and our energy was waning. But we slipped into a restaurant on a side street and had our drink and a cheese board and watched the world go by.
Back to the Ariston Hotel by train and bus and a snooze that turned into a sleep so a late dinner cooked in the self catering kitchen.
Tomorrow is Eurovision Grand Final day. This is the premier ticketed event of this trip so expect blogging and photographs galore.
Written by Rod
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